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The roadside is a very dangerous place for our lineworkers to be when working. When the power goes out, so do West Florida Electric Cooperative’s line crews. Sometimes this happens at night when visibility is compromised. This makes an already dangerous job even more dangerous. Sometimes our linemen continue working into the evening hours to finish up a job at a worksite or to restore power after major storms pass through our service area. We urge you to be cautious, pay attention and slow down if you see workers on the roadside, especially at night or during treacherous weather conditions. 84746003

Lineworkers are the first to respond after an outage occurs, and they work tirelessly to restore power to the communities we serve. If you’re traveling and see one of our crews on the side of the road, we kindly ask that you move over if at all possible and give them a little extra space to work. We care deeply about the safety of our employees and members, and this extra precaution ensures just that. If you approach a crew while traveling on a two-lane road, moving over to the next lane might not be an option. In this case, we ask that you slow down when approaching roadside crews. If you approach a crew while traveling on a four-lane road, and safety and traffic conditions allow, we ask that you move over into the far lane.

When working on the roadside our employees wear reflective safety vests in addition to all of their other personal protective equipment. After dark, bucket trucks and other cooperative vehicles at the worksite have white or orange flashing lights. Even with all of the precautions taken by crews working along the roadside, accidents can still happen.

Utility crews aren’t the only ones who could use the extra space. Emergency responders, such as police officers, firefighters and emergency medical technicians, often find themselves responding to emergency situations near busy roadways. We ask that you follow the same procedures mentioned above to help keep these crews safe.

Please implement these safety precautions when driving so that our employees and emergency responders make it home safely to their families. Let’s work together to keep everyone safe on our local roadways.